Eleison

Yeah, someone you have fluttery feelings for versus the person you are committed to and see being with for the rest of your life. Theirs is a unique case, for sure.

After seeing 60 episodes of him in Seas9n 1, you do get quite attached. 😅 A lot of people seemed to dislike the arc with Ning Que rejecting the Bookworm Maniac, but I actually liked it because he had to come to terms with who Sang Sang was to him, and that arc in the story forced him to do that. It was unfortunate that he was so tall and she was short and child-like, though. It made their relationship feel a bit weirder than it needed to. 🫤

It's just a friendship story (with a LOT of F-bombs 😅).

I liked it. More than I thought I would. I liked that none of the friends got jealous of each other, they just remained loyal to each other the whole time fighting in the ways they knew how in order to protect each other (unlike Season 1). The boys' initial "becoming friends" felt like it happened very quickly and without much basis for things to take off, more quickly than in Season 1, but once things got going I didn't mind. I realized Baku didn't enter until what, Episode 3? So that gave us time to get to know Jun Tae and Hyun Tak who get a little less prominent once Baku enters the scene. It allowed us to get to know everyone. And there was plenty for them to bond over as the story progressed.

This was as much about Baku as Sieun. They shared the limelight this season. And yay for Su Ho to join the friend group!

I actually appreciated that most of the fighting happened almost exclusively off-campus in this, and I appreciated the lighter tone, too. Season 1 was too somber and melodramatic for me.

Ji Hoon brought the consistency so it felt like the same series despite all the new faces. 👏👏👏

P.S. Oh, and only one word makes up 75% of their vocabulary. Guess which one? 😅 They have a very small vocabulary pool in gangster/teenage boy/action dramas... 🤷‍♀️

I started Season 2 but in addition to the casting changes, it felt a bit off to me, and sad? The more I watched the more sad the events became, too? I didn't like the world against poor Sang Sang, and then even SHE changes because of her hidden identity changing her behavior. And Ning Que matures vastly but Dylan Wang feels so much... nicer? So I felt worse for the suffering he undergoes from what I saw versus Arthur Chen because in Season 1 he's such a jerk and he was so tough and resilient that it wasn't as hard watching him suffer. 😅

It is popular, but it's objectively not a good drama. 😅 The first review summed it up pretty well. I actually think BOFs is better than this one, but it has a similarly toxic/makjang-ish plot and over-the-top plot points. If you go into with that mindset, it can be enjoyed. There are lots of great actors in it before they're famous, and they all mostly do really well. I liked BOFs a lot more than this one, though. It's a lot less memorable. But after watching it, I totally got why it was popular. 😉

😅😅 The English in this was next level kdrama atrocious!

Ah, well, I don't want/need another subscription. I already have too many than I'd like! 😅 I want to try The Mysterious Lotus Casebook but it's also on iQIYI. 😔 Oh well! Maybe it'll come to Viki someday. :)

And the subtitles are awful compared to Viki and even Netflix. They aren't timed well and you don't always have time to read them and they'll fill the whole screen sometimes. 😅 I'm so spoiled with Viki! Amazon needs to do better. 🤨

I think you're describing people who don't possess what the modern world calls "privilege"; maybe another spin on your take is to see the drama's message this way: people (those with or without privilege!) can live rich, beautiful, fulfilling lives if they have people around them who love them unconditionally. 😉

Interesting, I was expecting Reply 1988 and Prison Playbook length since it's a lot of the same creative team. 😅

The FL improves only after a few episodes in Season 2 as well.

I just realized it's only 12 episodes. That's too short for slice of life! Even with the long episodes. Now I don't know how they'll wrap it all up!

The super high rating surprised me just a smidge, but that said, it IS an enjoyable drama, and a fun popcorn flick. Utterly fantastical, it felt a cut below Dr. Romantic in realism and character development (though Dr. Romantic is one of my all-time favorites, so, hard act to follow), but that's probably partly due to the length. I didn't mind the lack of romance one bit. It also moves at lightning speed (it felt much more like the pacing of an American TV show than a drama to me) and everyone seems to be losing their marbles half the time, 😅 but that was what made it heartwarming, I guess (I just would hope doctors treating me would be a little calmer than Dr. Yang or Dr. Han 😆). The characters are also all adorable, and I love the way Dr. Baek won all his enemies over.

P.S. While Jae Won is quite endearing (and I was bummed they glossed over the part where he finally acted competent and cool as a cucumber), Park Gyeong Won was my favorite Baek disciple. ☺️

P.P.S. Would totally watch a Season 2 with Seo Dong Ju as No. 2. 😉

Ooh, thanks for the recs! I enjoyed the first three you shared for Kdramas, but haven't brought myself to watch WLGYT yet... I don't want to cry a river!

I should! It's one of those famous ones I haven't gotten to yet; it seemed boring to me but I should give it a shot!

I think it's too early to tell. So far I'd say it's less a part of the plot than Dr. Romantic, but I can't speak to Hospital Playlist as I've never seen either season. I felt like Dr. Romantic the romance permeated the story even if it didn't take front and center all the time. Here it is one of the several plots going at once. In ny experience, slice of life stuff tends to do that; have lots of slow-going plots that take place alongside each other.

Or jewelry!

Kenshin feels kind of like a Japanese Batman! 😅

My favorite quote is from his final fight with his mentor when his teacher says to him:

"If you sacrifice your life to protect those you hold dear, they will grieve for you. They will not be happy. Your own life is worth as much as any other. Only when you understand the gravity of it, will the ultimate technique be yours...Your life does not belong only to you. If you understand that, come at me again."

So good! I love how he incorporates these truths into a lesson for how to tap into the ultimate technique. Kenshin can only be truly effective if he remembers that as much as he wants others to live, they want HIM to live. If he's throwing his own life away, he's forgetting that all lives are precious, even his own.

Yes!